Dreamer
"Dreamer" is the upcoming second studio album by English singer-songwriter Michael Mikey Brennan. Background and recording On 31st May, 2015, after he finished recording his first album, Brennan saw Elton John, one of his idols, live at the Kent Showground, Detling Hill on the latter's All The Hits Tour;Michael Mikey Brennan (@michaelmikeybrennan) on Instagram: "Elton John was wicked last night". https://www.instagram.com/p/3ZNXHIABlT/ this inspired Brennan to start taking his role as a singer/songwriter more seriously; both musically, inspired by John's playing, and lyrically, inspired by Bernie Taupin's lyrics. The following day after seeing Elton John live, Brennan's debut album was released,Michael Mikey Brennan - Michael Mikey Brennan (2015) on Apple Music https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/michael-mikey-brennan/1002775825 although the tracks were available on YouTube from 22nd May, nine days prior to the gig and ten days prior to the album's official release.Michael Mikey Brennan (Album) | YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnvWCuDskRphSFyQhATEixU3E79BwQHYe After graduating from Bower Grove School and leaving behind former music teachers; Mr. Croft (former songwriting partner; "Mean Mikey", "A Dream", "Can't You See Me") and Mr. Starks who stayed at the school to continue teaching, Brennan, now an independent, started writing more music individually; spending his summer holidays, experimenting with different chord progressions and various styles, attempting to find a new sound for his music, which lead to him developing an interest in folk and country music; namely singer/songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Donovan, Don McLean, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Hank Williams, Cat Stevens, Damien Rice, Neil Young, Jack Johnson and John Denver, amongst others. Brennan was enrolled onto a Level 1 Music Performance course at MidKent College in August, 2015Michael Mikey Brennan (@michaelmikeybrennan) on Instagram: "I am now officially a MidKent College student". https://www.instagram.com/p/65EqKTABoq/ where from September and onwardsMichael Mikey Brennan (@michaelmikeybrennan) on Instagram: "My first day at the MidKent College Medway Campus begins." https://www.instagram.com/p/7XWJjPgBj0/ he continued studying music further, after leaving Bower Grove with a B in GCSE Music.Michael Mikey Brennan's Vine: "Last summer, GCSE Results Day was the worst day of my life...." https://vine.co/v/5OjrPebexaP During his music lessons throughout his first year at college on Level 1, Brennan studied the Blues era of music which he developed interest in the songwriting of blues musicians Robert Johnson,At Michael Mikey Brennan's Level 1 Music Performance Gig, he performed, along with his fellow Level 1 music students, Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom" and Lead Belly's "Black Betty". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEs6hdcZZ-s Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Lead BellyAt Michael Mikey Brennan's Level 1 Music Performance Gig, he performed, along with his fellow Level 1 music students, Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom" and Lead Belly's "Black Betty". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEs6hdcZZ-s and the Three Kings of Electric Blues; B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King through. In October 2015, Brennan was contacted by former school mate, Thomas "Tom" Blashford, via Facebook Messenger. After catching up, having not seen each other in six years - since Year Five -, Blashford listened to Brennan's debut album and was especially impressed with the twelf track "The Best Day Of My Life". Interested in taking Brennan's music to a new level, Blashford invited Brennan round his house where the two discussed plans for future projects which eventually lead to the planning of Brennan's second album. Blashford introduced Brennan to the music of progressive rock bands Yes, Pink Floyd and Genesis, as well as progressive folk singer/songwriter, John Martyn.Tom Blashford: Influences https://www.deezer.com/en/playlist/5061949044 Martyn provided a great influence on Brennan's songwriting for the album. Around the same time as Brennan and Blashford's reunion in October, Jamie Lawson's self-titled album was released;Jamie Lawson - Jamie Lawson (2015) on Apple Music https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/jamie-lawson/1018146099 Brennan credits the latter for inspiring him to make a second album: "When I first heard Lawson's album I became so inspired and realised I had to get back in the studio to record a second album".Michael Mikey Brennan (@MMikeyBrennan) on Twitter: "3 years ago today @JamieLawsonUK released his self-titled album, when I first listened to it I became so inspired and realised I had to get back in the studio to record a second album, which is almost done after three years in the making and hopefully will be released next summer". https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/1052336007104909312 In January, 2016 Brennan released recordings of two new original songs - composed with his new developed influences in folk and country -; "Home" and "The Drinking Song", which both premiered on Brennan's YouTube channel on 30th.Michael Mikey Brennan - "Home" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0FA-iFxOu0Michael Mikey Brennan - "The Drinking Song" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuhwNkRajcE The demos were later on distributed to other various online downloading and streaming services; including Apple Music and Spotify."Home" on Apple Music https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/home-single/1098012248"Home" on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/2wa90RJZ0x1smgWTDXnLP2"The Drinking Song" on Apple Music https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-drinking-song-single/1108576106 "The Drinking Song" on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/1Mmidq2hDdc46kgMgV7KKa While Blashford wasn't keen on "The Drinking Song", due to its alcoholism references, he was impressed with "Home", as were Brennan's listeners; Mark Emzime, fellow musician and friend of Brennan, was also impressed with "Home", and stated that it was probably Brennan's best song since "The Best Day Of My Life".Mark Emzime's comment on the "Home" audio video on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0FA-iFxOu0&lc=UggtRzvgd7WTRXgCoAEC Also in January, 2016, after spending the rest of 2015 planning, Brennan and Blashford began experimenting with songwriting and recording, which lead to the release of their first collaboratively written song, "Love Song",Michael Mikey Brennan announces plans to release a love song for Valentine's Day, 2016. https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/698804152173006848 which premiered on Brennan's YouTube channel in February on Valentine's Day.Michael Mikey Brennan - Love Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaTIihHNprE&feature=youtu.be However, it was later taken down, due to Brennan and Blashford's negative views on it. According to Brennan, "The instrumental arrangement itself was beautiful (in fact, it kind of reminded me of Coldplay's "Yellow", it had a similar vibe to it) but our lyrics were poor; terrible actually! If you take the lyrics out of the equation, it's a fantastic song, but with the lyrics it's awful". Brennan believes that the rushing process of "Love Song" somewhat lead to the downfall: "It was rushed, due to the fact that we wanted to get it done by Valentine's Day time was of the essence. I guess you could say that from that day on we learned an important lesson; art can't be rushed". Track listing All tracks produced by Tom Blashford. References